דַּבֵּר֙ אֶל־בְּנֵ֣י
יִשְׂרָאֵ֔ל וְיִקְחוּ־לִ֖י תְּרוּמָ֑ה
Eben Ezra The words ve-yikchu
li (that they take for Me) is similar to the form surah elai (turn
in to me) (Jud. 4:18). Surah elai means turn from your place and come to
me. Ve-yikchu li has a similar connotation. It means let him take from
what he owns and give it to me. The same is true of Fetch me (kechi li),
I pray thee, a little water (I Kings 17:10).
But if we look at the words
וְעָ֥שׂוּ לִ֖י מִקְדָּ֑שׁ
וְשָׁכַנְתִּ֖י בְּתוֹכָֽם׃
That I may dwell among
(within) them: It does not say
'within it,' which means that the place that God will sanctify to
dwell there is within the children of Israel that encircle the Tabernacle with
four banners.
The
Difference Between The Gentile and Jewish View of The Cherubim
The
Talmud quotes in the name of Rav Katina that when the Jews came up for the
pilgrimage festivals, the priests would pull back the curtain in the Beis
HaMikdash and show them that the Cherubim (one of which had masculine features
and one of which had feminine features) were embracing one another. The priests
would say: “See how beloved you are before the Almighty, like the love of a
male and female.” [Yoma 54a]
The
Gemara continues [Yoma. 54b], Reish Lakish stated that when the Gentiles
invaded and entered the Holy of Holies, they saw the Cherubim embracing like
man and wife and they brought them out to the street and mocked. “These Jews
whose blessing is a blessing and whose curse is a curse, look at what they
occupy themselves with in their Holy of Holies.” They debased Klal Yisrael and
ridiculed them for this perceived impropriety. This, Chazal interpret, is the
meaning of the pasuk: “All who once respected her, disparage her, for they have
seen her disgrace (ervasah, literally ‘her nakedness’)” [Eicha 1:8].
[The
Rishonim in tractate Yoma ask a very interesting question: The Cherubim were
not always embracing. They were only embracing when the Jews 'did the Will
of the Almighty”. Their embrace mirrored how G-d felt toward His people. When
He loved them, they embraced; when G-d was angry with His people, they were
separate. The Rishonim ask that when the Gentiles came into the Beis HaMikdash
to destroy it, the last thing we would expect to find was the Cherubim
embracing. They should have not even have been looking at one another! Why were
they apparently mirroring G-d’s Love for us at that moment?
The
Rishonim answer — at that point the destruction (Churban) had happened already.
G-d’s Wrath was already spent. The Temple had already been destroyed. 'Now
let’s make up.” Thus, even while the walls were still burning, the Cherubim
were embracing again. They were back in love.]
Why,
in fact, do we have in our Holy of Holies the image of a husband and a wife
engaging in an embrace? This is something that the Gentiles could not
understand. They mocked it. They used it to make us a laughing-stock.
How
do WE understand this? The interpretation is that the Cherubim are like the
famous Rorschach inkblot test. Psychologists and psychiatrists take blotches of
ink that come out in random form and ask patients to tell them what they see.
What a person “sees” says everything about what he is, where his thoughts are,
where his values are, where his mind is.
The
Cherubim were Rorschach tests. They were a man and a woman embracing in a
loving and adoring fashion. What is that? Is that pure or impure? Is it holy or
profane? The answer is — it is all in the eyes of the beholder. A Gentile looks
at that and has impure thoughts. There is only one thing that happens when a
man and a woman are in such an embrace and it is very far from being holy.
Therefore, to the Gentiles it was the biggest demonstration of an incongruity.
“How incongruous!” they mocked, “to have such imagery in the Holy of Holies.”
But
to Klal Yisrael, the embrace between a husband and wife does not have to be
impure and profane. It can be the holiest of acts. The mitzvah of onah (having
conjugal relations with one’s wife) of a Torah scholar is specifically on the
night of the Sabbath, the holiest day of the week. If one would ask an
untutored mind “On the holiest day of the week in what activities should a
Talmid Chochom engage?” the secular or non-Jewish perspective would be that
marital relations would be the last thing one should do on such a day.
This
is the difference between Jews and the nations of the world who destroyed our
Beis HaMikdash. To us, the embrace of the Cherubim represented exactly what the
Holy of Holies is all about — holy intimacy. This is what Kedusha
[hol[holiness]all about: There is no aspect of human existence that can’t be
elevated a nd can’t be made holy. This is symbolic of everything else in life.
Rabbi
Akiva states: “All Biblical writings are holy, but the Songs of Songs
(portraying the love of a male for a female) is holy of holies.” [Yal[Yalkut
Shimoni] unlettered person reads Shir HaShirim with a snicker. The sensual
descriptions seem far from holy writings. Rabbi Akiva states that not only is
it holy, it is holy of holies. It symbolizes our relationship with the
Almighty. Holiness or lack of it is all in the eyes of the beholder.
Dancing with You - The Baal Shem Tov, founder of the Chassidic
movement, was once sitting on Friday night at his Shabbos table with his family
and close disciples. Suddenly at the end of the Kiddush, the Baal Shem Tov
began to laugh. The disciples were startled, but out of respect for their holy
master, they remained silent. They began the Shabbos dinner and recited
Hamotzi, tasting the fish, until the Baal Shem Tov let out another laugh. The
disciples again were astounded. Maybe there's some humor in the fish, they
reasoned, but there was nothing funny about the fish. As the meal progressed
and they began singing the Shabbos songs, the Baal Shem Tov began to laugh for
the third time. It was an absolute mystery.
After Shabbos, one of the students asked his master, “What was
your laughing all about?” The Baal Shem Tov asked him to summon the bookbinder
of town. He was a fine, poor, simple, and G-d-fearing Jew named Shabsi. When
Shabsi arrived, the Baal Shem Tov gathered his students and asked the
bookbinder to share with them what had transpired at his home during the Friday
night meal. Shabsi blushed, feeling very uncomfortable, but the Baal Shem Tov
reassured him.
For years shops Shabsi was struggling to earn a livelihood. Life
in 18th century Ukraine was not easy. But he always saved up some extra rubles
to be able to afford a beautiful and festive Shabbos dinner for the holy day.
Shabbos, an island in time, a transcendental oasis, was his cherished day, and
he wanted to celebrate it with full tranquility and joy. But that past week,
due to the heavy snow, there was no business. Nobody came to buy any books.
Friday morning, he realized he didn't even have a single ruble to give to his
wife to purchase food for Shabbos. There would be no candles burning, no wine,
no Challah, no vegetables, no fish, meat, fruits or dessert. Sadness set into
his heart. So he went to the synagogue and stayed there all Friday day, reciting
psalms and studying the weekly Torah portion.
Friday night after the services, he came home expecting to find
it empty and dark. To his amazement, the house was lit up with glowing candles.
The table was decorated with the most exquisite of foods. His wife explained
that when she saw the pain in his eyes, that he would not be able to celebrate
the holy day as he always did, she felt she had to find a solution. So she
searched and searched, and discovered an old coat of hers that had golden
buttons. She sold them and purchased all of this beautiful Shabbos food so they
would have an amazing Shabbat together. Shabsi continues telling the story. “I made the Kaddish, and my heart
swelled with gratitude to G-d for giving us the opportunity to celebrate this
special, exquisite day, the day of rest, the day of oneness, the day of ecstasy
and serenity. The day in which we can connect to our spiritual core. I was so
grateful and so moved by what my wife had done. I could not contain my joy, and
I asked my wife if she would dance with me. She agreed. So I joined my wife for
a dance around the candlelit Shabbos table.
We continued our Shabbos dinner. I finished the fish and again
my wife and I were overwhelmed with so much gratitude. We couldn’t thank G-d
enough for allowing us to enjoy this beautiful day of exquisite rest and inner
tranquility, a day saturated with so much holiness, peacefulness, intimacy,
love and serenity. I asked my wife, “Would you dance with me again?” And she
said, “Of course.” So my wife and I, for the second time, went for a fiery
dance around the Shabbos table. We danced with all our heart and mind and soul.
Then we sat down and began to sing the Shabbos songs, both melting in delight.
We felt so privileged to have each other in our lives, and to have our G-d, and
to have the gift of Shabbos. I felt so grateful for all my years with my
amazing wife at my side. We both could not hold back the limitless joy. I asked
my wife if she would dance again with me and she said absolutely. So for the
third time, we joined hands and hearts and we began to dance and dance around
the table until the end of evening. “This,” Shabsi said, “is what happened in
our home on Friday night.” The Baal Shem Tov looked at Shabsi, the bookbinder,
and said, “Shabsi, I want you to know that as you danced with your wife, Heaven
was dancing with you. As the two of you joined hands and hearts and sang and
danced, the angels themselves were dancing in the Heavens. The eternal heart
itself heard your music and it was warmed. G-d Himself was dancing and
celebrating with you. And I too,” the Baal Shem Tov said, “participated in your
joy. On a Shabbos of such perfect, transcendent happiness, who wouldn't laugh?
Each time you both got up to dance, I could not contain my laughter and joy.”
The Baal Shem Tov looked at Shabsi and said, “And now I want to
bless you. What do you want? What do you need?” Shabsi said, “My dear Rebbe. We
have been blessed with so much, but my wife and I never had a child. We would
love to be blessed with a child.” The Baal Shem Tov said, “I bless you that G-d
should grant you and your spouse a child.” Indeed, a year later, a young boy
was born. They named him with the same name as the Baal Shem Tov, Yisrael. He
grew up to become one of the greatest spiritual luminaries of Polish Jewry,
known as the Kozhnitzer Maggid, one of the great Chassidic masters, the author
of a work called Avodas Yisrael. And he brought so much wisdom, depth, love and
light to Polish Jewry.
Sometimes you're sitting alone with your spouse or with another
loved one or with yourself, enjoying a moment of holiness, of purity, of love,
a moment of Shabbos. You're doing a mitzvah or you're engaged in Torah study.
And you might think, “I’m just a simple man, a simple woman, unimportant,
invisible, inconsequential. Who knows? Who cares?” But as you kindle your flame
of holiness in this world, and you dance with your blazing heart, remember,
Heaven is dancing with you. And the Tzaddik laughs along.
